Usareik
Landscape Usareik is a land of rolling hills, volcanic rocks and large forests. There are high cliffs all along the coast, with only a few points of entry. There are two major cities on mainland Usareik, Helios to the north is the smaller of the two, and near the Sator Forest, which is quite dangerous. The larger of the two, known as Solis is situated near the coast, and is the Capital city of Usareik. The Sator Forest takes up most of the north of Usareik, and is filled with many dangers. Goverment For most of it's history, Usareik has been ruled by a monarch, and for much of it's early history, this was an absolute monarchy, with the King having no one to balance his power except the few large scale landowners who established themselves during the expansion of Usareik, in the mid Brave Era, the King's power was unhindered by law, because of Usareik's primitive legal system. Later in the last days of the Brave Era, the Monarchy died off, and the country was briefly ruled by a council known as the Aúgum Trey, who established a firm legal system in Usareik. After the restoration, Usareik operated with the King and the Aúgum Trey keeping each other in check. From there, the government descends into a local level. First there are the Land-Lords who rule over large parts of land, then the governours, who are in charge of a single town or city, and finally landed elite, such as knights, who own a small part of land, and maybe a village. Trade Usareik sells Lumber to the world, making up 8% of all exports out of the kingdom. Usareik wood has unique, fire retardant properties, and is valued the world over. Large tracts of land to the east have been dedicated to commercial logging. Large parts of south Usareik have been turned into quarries and mines, producing Iron, Gold, Limestone, Coal, Diamond, Ruby, and other minerals. These gemstones and metals are the principle wealth of the island. Slaves are a large part of the Jarvah economy. As Usareik is nearly always warring, slaves are taken usually taken from defeated races, and sold at markets, in other lands. In times of peace, pirates raid villages, small fishing towns and other coastal settlements to continue the slave trade, but even this does not prevent the supply from dwindling massively. Military The military of Usareik is one of the main focuses of it's people. Service is mandatory for all men and women, with four years active service being mandatory, and the rest of their life being spent in reserves can be spent in the reserves. This means the military is quite large, and for purposes of control, is broken down into divisions. First, comes the overall military, assumed to be over 25 million strong, as was the population of Usareik in the last census. This is made up primarily of reserve forces. From there, there are two branches of the military. The army, who serve on land and are the most numerous, the navy is also large, Usariek being an island nation. Serving in the navy is looked upon with extreme pride, and generally breeds snotty officers. Finally, the last, and least well known branch: The Shadow Warriors, a large network of spies. They are usually used to keep control on the local populace, and put down slave revolts. The Spy force is almost totally non-Jarvah, and includes several figures in important jobs in enemy countries. Following those three branches, they are all broken down again into 6. A homeland and invasion branch of each. From that, they are taken to 12 Divisions, 24 Battalions, 48 Regiments, 96 Companies, and 192 Units. History During the Brave Era, six great Jarvah dreadnoughts arrived across the The Broadwaters from unknown parts of Kyros Surviving documents from the islanders of the Broadwaters suggest that the ships did not stop for supplies during the voyage, though the first report and the last are near three thousand leagues apart. In Brave 241, five of the ships arrived in the island of Kvurian, quickly establishing trade with the Dramer settlers in the area, a small group of farmers and tradesmen. In Brave 243, a final dreadnought arrived, larger than all the others. Aboard it was the Jarvah's king, Karl I. Karl was told the situation, and consulted with the High Priest, whose name has been lost to time. It was decreed that the dramer were the spawn of Vok, the antagonistic figure in the Jarvah's religion. The dramer were put to the sword, and the Jarvah set about securing the area around present day Solis. One of the dreadnoughts was dismantled, and the materials were used to construct a small keep on the ground. The Sun Kingdom of Usareik was declared in the spring of Brave 244. After this, Usareik engaged in a series of battles that would come to be known as the Expansion wars, mainly against the Juhn-ra and Minotaurs, two gigantic races that controlled much of eastern Kvurian. In autumn of Brave 249, Karl the first died of the slow fever. He was succeeded by his son, King Otto I. Popularly known as the warrior, Otto began the adoption of the warrior culture the Jarvah are famous for, rewarding the most brilliant soldiers with lands and titles. In contrast to his father's general, Otto was a frontline soldier. Otto finished the expansion wars in Brave 261, slaying the last Juhn-Ra chieftain to stray into Usareik. The rest of Otto's reign was focused on finalizing control in Usareik, and creating infrastructure around his lands. His reign saw the growth of Solis into a small town, and the formal establishment of trade relations with Khorrum. Otto I passed on in Brave 270, after a hunting "accident." He was succeeded by his sickly son, who ruled as Otto II. Three months later, Otto II died of his illness, and his uncle Fredrick became King. Fredrick I, known as the slaver, began his rule by launching a series of brutal raids against small towns along the coast of the Dún and Nokana, sending the slaves onto markets in Thyros. With his country growing economically, Fredrick began a series of constructions, such as the new city of Helios in the north. Under Fredrick's reign, Helios became the capital of Usareik. In Brave 290, Fredrick was overthrown by a lord, who became known as Otto III. Otto ruled weakly for two years, before he was killed by an assasin, presumed to be hired by one of the city states of the Dún. The country was thrown into a crisis known as The Interregnum, from which it emerged in Brave 293, to be led by a council, known as the Aúgum Trey(Mind above) The council was led by a High Priest, known as Hrandin, who proved utterly incapable of doing the job. Revolts and rebellions rocked the early years of the Aúgum Trey, the most famous of which being the Fortnight's War, a conflict which saw the capitol buildings in Helios razed. In Brave 294, the capital was moved back to Solis. The later years of the Aúgum Trey were far more peaceful, particularly compared to the bloody half decade before. The summer of Brave 296 saw the introduction of a crop rotation system in Usareik, complete with legislation to levy up to 10% of a farmers goods for wintertime food banks. This created a population boom for Usareik, and the popularity of the Aúgum Trey seemed to be on the rise. This was not to last, and in Red 8, documents emerged with pointed to collusion between the Aúgum Trey and certain criminal elements of the Nokana Empire. In an effort to divert attention from themselves, and to conquer new land, The Aúgum Trey declared war on the Dramer of Dram, sparking The Red War. In Red 9, as the fleet was about to set sail, a great storm ravaged Kvurian. Though some claim this was the work of Dramer mages, the storm was likely of natural origin. Finally, in the summer of the 10th year, the fleets set sail for Dram. Politically and economically, the invasion was a success. Usareik secured several vital trade ports, and could, for a time, boast that they were the masters of Kvurian. Militarily, the invasion had several negative effects. The transformation of Rekkan Remor into a Ratan destroyed several of the Jarvah's ships, and left them with only two remaining Dreadnoughts. A new programme was implemented offering those who settled Dram with enough land to feed their families twofold, which proved to be successful in fully converting Dram to Usareik's ways. Hrandin's new found popularity would be fleeting, however. In Red 11, he exempted the ruling class from tax, and increased it on the commoners. In Red 12, he banned the use of any and all narcotics, and finally, in Red 15, he passed legislation which could theoretically implement him as King. In Red 16, Hrandin expressed the desire give in to the settlers of Dram's demands. Hrandin believed that defending Dram was a useless exercise, and troops would be better spent annexing Khorrum. Finally, a coup took place. General Maximus ordered the army to take Hrandin prisoner, along with Matamus, leader of Dram. They were executed in Mount Kvurian. In Red 21, the Jarvah civil war began. During it, the entire Aúgum Trey was killed, and General Maximus proclaimed King Maximus I. This would later be known as the Bloody restoration. In Red 25, Maximus duelled and killed the King in Dram, Vichtúr. King Maximus I died of his wounds, and his brother became King Otto IV. The new King Otto faced several problems early on in his reign. Infrastructure was crumbling, the economy shrinking, and, he lacked the respect the army had given his brother. Otto IV temporarily moved his capital to Helios, as Solis was in ruin. Otto increasingly had to take out loans to pay for the reconstruction of the city, and more than once had to repay the loans with priceless Jarvah artefacts. In Red 30, Otto renamed gave the order to consecrate Havok as a city, to be renamed Maximus. Otto IV quickly restored Usareik to prominence, and strengthened ties with Khorrum. In Red 32, he abdicated the throne in favour of his son, who ruled as King Gustav I. Gustav I spent the early years of his reign consolidating power and establishing trade agreements within Usareik and throughout Atheryin. In Red 37, he established a somewhat controversial programme of slave reimbursement, giving freed slaves guaranteed plots of land in the outer fringes of Usareik. In Red 52 Gustav faced rebellion from many of the Lords of Usariek, angered at the Slave reimbursment programme. The rebellion lasted until Red 60, but was won by the now aging Gustav after a failed siege of Solis by the rebel forces. In Red 64, Gustav controversially took a second wife after all sons from the womb of his first wife perished. The last to die was Crown Prince Maximus, who choked to death on a chicken bone. In Red 69, a son was at last born to Gustav, by this point on his third wife. The child was named Heinrich, and became King as less than two months old, following his father's timely death.